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November 3, 2013

One of the things hubs and I like is having framed photos of ancestors hanging on our living room wall. We didn't inherit any large framed photos, so we have created our own.

We hang them on every wall, including up the stairs. Mixed in with these ancestor photos are oil paintings done by hubs' grandmother and great-grandmother, watercolours done by yours truly, antique paintings we buy, and framed family treasures.

Here's how we do it:

1. Take an ancestor photo - a small one from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Make sure it is in sharp focus. Scan it (I use my Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner
for this) and have it enlarged to the size you want. I use Shutterfly but you can use any service to do this.

The photo here is of my great-grandmother on her wedding day in 1867. The original is 3x5 inches. The enlargement is 9x15 inches.

2. Have the enlargement placed in a mat and then frame it. You can do it yourself by purchasing frames and mats or you can have this done professionally.

I collect antique picture frames (you find them in antique stores and flea markets) then hubs repairs and repaints them if needed.

3. Hang your portraits and voila! You have a gorgeous Wall of Ancestors! We also hang antique paintings mixed in with our ancestors for a change of pace.

We have enlarged an antique photo of my 2nd great-grandmother and her first born grandson which was 2x3" into a lovely framed portrait for the wall.

We also took a small photo of hub's grandfather and had a poster made for his man cave. The new poster enlargement is from Shutterfly's College Poster section. We chose 20x30 inches.

Then we bought a cheap black frame from Walmart and hubs used the insert
in the frame which he reversed to create a nice white mat around the
photo.

Hubs has it with his WW1 military collection and I think it looks amazing!

I also did one of my grandfather in his Kent Buff's military uniform as a poster for my son.

This hobby doesn't cost much and it not only provides us with a great deal of enjoyment it also safely preserves our ancestor photos! The originals are stored safely in archival sleeves and only the digital copies are framed and hung.

this is beautiful. years ago, I cross-stitched my family tree. Found a very unique pattern and went for it. It's huge, entered it in the local fair and won first place. It hangs in my living roomgood job on this!!Bonne

I'm an incurable collector of
antiques, an avid genealogist and a messy but creative cook! I blog, i write history and genealogy books. My main genealogy website is Olive Tree Genealogy http://olivetreegenealogy.com/